The Foundation Center Appoints Val Porter as
Director of the Foundation Center-Atlanta

New York, NY — June 3, 2010. The Foundation Center, the nation's leading authority on organized philanthropy, has announced the appointment of Val Porter as director of its Atlanta office, effective May 17, 2010. The Center's mission is to strengthen the nonprofit sector by advancing knowledge about philanthropy. As the director of the Foundation Center-Atlanta, Ms. Porter will oversee activities in the entire Southeast, continuing a 15-year history of service to the region. The Atlanta location offers resource-rich programming on-site, online, and throughout the community. It holds the largest library on philanthropy in the Southeast, offers an aggressive training ground for nonprofit professionals, and hosts forums for both grantmakers and grantseekers.

Prior to joining the Foundation Center, Ms. Porter headed a strategy and branding firm, Cultural Capital, dedicated to the sustainability and growth of public and private ventures. Before that, Ms. Porter was business development director at Brand Atlanta, where she served as a member of the executive team for the City of Atlanta's marketing campaign. She has also served as the deputy director of the Fulton County Arts Council and held other positions in arts administration and resource development at arts organizations in Atlanta.

"Val's wide experience and strong connections to the nonprofit community in Georgia combined with her outstanding skills as a communicator and collaborator make her a perfect fit for taking the Center to the next level in Atlanta," says Bradford Smith, president of the Foundation Center. "Nonprofit organizations across the Southeast will benefit from her expertise and leadership."

Ms. Porter holds a Master of Science degree in marketing from Georgia State University and a Bachelor of Science degree in management from Georgia Tech. She completed a postgraduate program (Innovations in Governance) at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Ms. Porter serves on the advisory boards of Benchmark Pet Products and is board secretary of Open Vision, an Atlanta-based television network. She is a native of Huntsville, Alabama, and a resident of Smyrna, Georgia.

About the Foundation Center
Established in 1956 and today supported by close to 550 foundations, the Foundation Center is the nation's leading authority on philanthropy, connecting nonprofits and the grantmakers supporting them to tools they can use and information they can trust. The Center maintains the most comprehensive database on U.S. and, increasingly, global grantmakers and their grants — a robust, accessible knowledge bank for the sector. It also operates research, education, and training programs designed to advance knowledge of philanthropy at every level. Thousands of people visit the Center's web site each day and are served in its five regional library/learning centers and its network of more than 400 funding information centers located in public libraries, community foundations, and educational institutions in every U.S. state and beyond. For more information, please visit foundationcenter.org or call (212) 620-4230.